Fic: Other Too Endless (Matthew/Mary); 1/6
Title: Other Too Endless, part 1/6
Pairing: Matthew/Mary (Downton Abbey)
Rating: PG-13
Summary: The family are put out by Cora's meddlesome American mother when she makes an unreasonable request.
Note: Set following the season 2 Christmas special.
Grandmama was not as Mary remembered.
The woman she'd met when she was a girl was cheerfully opinionated. Her red hair shone in the lamplight and her brash American accent rose over their parents' more subdued tones. She had startled and captivated both Mary and Edith.
"Such pretty English roses," Grandmama said, when they were presented to her one night after dinner. Mama had instructed their maid to take extra care with their appearance and they were adorned like little dolls in ribbons and lace. Grandmama's shrewd blue eyes observed them before she touched Mary on the cheek. She said, "You'll marry well."
Granny wouldn't have a bar of her, of course, but Mary found her fascinating. It was deeply disappointing when she only stayed for two weeks. Mary barely remembered Mama's frayed temper or her nervous asides with the then housekeeper, Mrs Anders. But she had been only ten, and Edith eight.
In the days leading up to Grandmama's second visit, Mama's disposition changed noticeably. Normally gentle but firm with the servants, she became impatient and snappy at the slightest provocation. It wasn't the red room she wanted set up, but the yellow room in the east corridor. The menu for the next week had to be finalised now, she didn't care what Mrs Patmore had to say about it. Even Carson earned some of her ill-humour, which he bore with quiet grace. Pitying them, Mary wondered what on earth had gotten into her mother.
And then she met Grandmama.
The woman they greeted in the drive that afternoon was neither chatty nor boisterous, but stern and humourless. Her lady's maid hovered anxiously behind her, eyeing the big house as if she couldn't quite comprehend its existence. Mama stepped forward to embrace her mother, and despite the fact that they had not seen each other in almost twenty years, Grandmama patted her on the back and kissed her on the cheek as if this were something of a duty.
"Mama," Papa said, warmth in his voice but a knowing, cautious distance in his stance. "It's lovely to have you here with us."
"You've barely changed, Robert," she said, accepting his gracious kiss with nary a smile.
Her eyes darted over Mary, Edith and Matthew in quick succession. Mary felt herself standing taller, like a child in front of her new governess.
"You grew into quite the beauty, didn't you?" Grandmama said, pausing in front of her.
The compliment was familiar, but Grandmama's tone wasn't genial. "I'm very glad to see you again, Grandmama," Mary said. "It's been too long."
"Hello, Grandmama," Edith added. Grandmama gave her a look before shifting over to Matthew without breaking her stride. "And you must be the young man set to inherit all of this. And Mary's heart, on top of that. You have done well."
Mary could tell that Matthew was a little perplexed by this statement. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Mrs Levinson. I do apologise that my mother isn't here to greet you as well, but she will be along to dinner this evening."
"Won't that be interesting?" she said with an odd smile, before she returned to Mama to be escorted into the house.
Matthew glanced at Mary, and she frowned and shrugged.
Though Mary had not really wanted to go to America, she had looked forward to seeing her other grandmother again, and this was not the reunion she had envisioned. Of course the crossing from American was long and arduous, and she could certainly forgive an elderly woman for being prickly. Granny could also be imposing when you weren't used to her.
She put all thoughts of the meeting aside until that evening, when Anna was helping her ready for dinner and Mama stepped into her room uninvited. She looked stunning, as usual. Her embroidered cream dress was slightly looser around the middle, and the band in her hair glittered in the light. Despite her age, Mama kept up to date with all the latest fashions, and Mary suspected she had enjoyed it even more than the rest of them had when the new trends started cropping up in London again.
Mary herself was dressed in a ruby red dress that drooped at the waist and flared around her black heels. It brought out the tinges of red in her hair and the cream in her complexion, and it also reminded her of the dress she had been wearing during the servants' ball, when Matthew proposed. She thought he might like it.
When Mary met her mother's eyes in the mirror, she frowned at the expression she saw reflected there.
"We haven't done this for a while," she noted, adjusting her gloves as Anna departed the room. "Do I need scolding over something I'm unaware of?"
Mama pursed her lips as she perched on the end of the four poster bed. "Mary, your grandmother has made her feelings plain about something."
Mary wasn't at all sure she liked the tone in her mother's voice. She turned on her stool so they were facing one another. "And what would that be?"
"Your engagement to Matthew."
The unease continued to build in her stomach. "Pardon me?"
"You did wonder why she came over so quickly, didn't you? You haven't actually set a date."
"I assumed she wanted to spend some time with us."
"I'm afraid that's only part of it. Darling, you have to understand that while your grandmother can be severe, at times, she does have your best interests at heart. She thinks that... in light of the scandal hitting the papers so recently, your engagement should be... put on hold, for the time being."
Mary could scarcely believe what she was hearing. And the reluctance with which her mother said the words... it was almost as if she agreed with them.
"You don't think that's true though, do you? She has no idea about English society!"
"It's not very different to New York society, Mary. A scandal is still a scandal. There was a reason we didn't announce your engagement to anyone outside of the family."
"Because we thought it would provoke Richard, not that our caution mattered! He still published. Everyone agreed that we should wait a month or two, but that doesn't mean we need delay any more than that now. It's past time we made it official."
Mama looked down, weighing her words. "You have to admit that the timing of it is a little awkward. How do you think this will reflect on Matthew?"
"Isn't this what you wanted? Me, married off, so my reputation is at least somewhat preserved?"
"I think that waiting a little longer, until our names are out of the papers, might be the best course of action now, given how things have changed."
Mary sprang to her feet. She was quite aware that she sounded shrill. "It's beginning to sound as if you were been thinking about this before Grandmama even arrived! Don't you want us to be happy together, finally?"
"Of course I do! How can you even ask such a thing? But there is your sister to think about as well. Her marriage prospects have been affected by this."
"To be fair that is her own fault."
Mama squinted at her, and Mary remembered she did not know what that meant.
"Our family needs to get itself out of the spotlight, and we can't afford to incite any more unnecessary gossip. Your engagement could be seen as-"
"What?" Mary scoffed. "The greedy heir, swooping in to take up his benefactor's ruined daughter because no one else will have her?"
"Mary!" Mama snapped. "If you think I enjoy taking my mother's side on this, I do not! It just so happens that she has a point. It's not as if what I'm asking you is unreasonable. You just need to be patient."
"This is because she doesn't like Matthew," Mary said, scoffing. "She doesn't like that he's set to inherit your fortune. Did you see the way she spoke to him today? She doesn't think he's worthy of it."
"You had a similar opinion once upon a time, if I recall."
"Well I'm marrying him now! And I can see why she would suggest this, she doesn't know us or what we've been through, but you do."
Mama bowed her head. "Mary..."
"Everyone's going to be wondering where we are!" Mary snapped, whirling with a flick of beads before she stalked from the room.
She didn't look to see if Mama was descending the stairs behind her, but when she neared the drawing room, nearly everyone else was gathered, including Isobel and Granny. They paused when she entered, and Matthew stepped towards her with a slight frown. "Is there something the matter?"
"Everything is the matter," she said in a low, forceful voice only he could hear.
He looked troubled, but Carson announced that dinner was ready before he could ask what she meant.
Mama had done her best to seat Grandmama and Granny out of one another's reach, though that meant Isobel sat somewhere in between them, and Mary suspected she would rouse one or both of them anyway, if Grandmama's earlier attitude was anything to go by. She couldn't say she was terribly concerned; in fact, she almost wanted the bloodsport. Her heart was still pumping red hot, and her body coursed with anger. The thought that they would hamper her happiness this way, without even consulting her... well it was the damned entail all over again, wasn't it? Just how long did they expect her and Matthew to wait? Five, six months? A year? How long would it take for London society to forget they existed, considering Bates's name had also started appearing in the papers as Papa set his lawyers to work on the appeal.
And speaking of Papa, what did he think about all of this? Did he even know? Mary examined him at the end of the table. She knew it was well within her mother's character to make this decision without his input, but suddenly she wanted his take on things, she wanted it very much. It would feel a betrayal if he too agreed with the decision. She suspected he would not, but that he might go along with it, for the sake of equilibrium.
She found herself glancing at Matthew in the corner of her eye. He was perfectly serene as he sipped his wine and said something to Edith across the table. She wanted to spare him the truth almost as much as she wanted his comfort. Why must they wait any longer? Hadn't they been separated for long enough? Why did their relationship have to be anyone's business but their own? Almost without thinking, she reached for his hand under the table. She found it resting against his knee, and she tangled her fingers through his much larger ones, seeking some solace in their warmth. Matthew twitched and glanced at her in surprise before he carefully returned the caress.
"I assume Sybil is still in Ireland then, with her chauffeur?" Grandmama asked, and though her question was directed at Mama it was loud enough to stop the other conversations going on around the table.
"She has promised she'll return for a visit soon," Mama said.
"Closer to the wedding," Mary added, lifting her pointed gaze to Grandmama's.
Grandmama just smiled. "I still can't quite believe she married a servant. Your daughters do have the strangest taste in husbands."
Mary tensed, and Matthew's thumb circled her knuckles.
"Sybil is quite an independent girl," Isobel said. "I think it's admirable that she was so willing to follow her heart."
"Admirable, or foolish?" Grandmama asked. "What girl can comfortably trade in an upper class lifestyle for poverty in an Irish slum? Certainly not the Sybil I know."
"Well since the only Sybil you've ever known was six, I'd say the point is very fairly moot," Granny said.
"And in the end it was her decision, wasn't it?" Mary said, releasing Matthew's hand to cradle her glass. "No one else's."
Grandmama looked at her shrewdly. "Let's dispense with the double talk, shall we Mary? I'm unused to this British passivity. Your mother has obviously told you my suggestion, and you're not happy with it."
Mary pursed her lips. "All right," she said. "No, I'm not."
"Dear me, is the dinner table really the place for this discussion?" Mama started, but her protest fell on deaf ears.
"I hardly think it's your place to come in and decide when Matthew and I can and can not be married," Mary said.
"What?" Matthew asked, and Granny lifted her eyebrows.
"Forgive me, Grandmama, but you know nothing of the situation."
"I know enough," she said curtly. "I spent an evening in London before I came here and I saw all I needed to see in the papers. They were talking about you openly in the hotel restaurant. The Crawley family is so inundated with scandal I'm surprised any of you can stand upright, let alone consider marriage."
"I don't think this is appropriate," Papa said, clearing his throat.
"Perhaps that's your problem, Robert, you're not willing to put everything out in the open. But I am. Through your own foolish judgment - and I understand that you were young, Mary, and that these mistakes happen, loathe as we may be to admit it - you have brought scandal down on this household, and now you have to suffer the consequences. Even if that means postponing your happiness for the good of the family."
"With all due respect, I think Mary has sacrificed a great deal already for this family," Matthew said. Mary could see the irritation colouring his face and she felt a rush of gratitude.
Grandmama glanced at him. "He jumps to your defence quickly, I'll give him that."
"Enough," Papa said sharply. "I won't hear any more of this; certainly not now. Cora is right, this is no topic for the dinner table."
"Very well," Grandmama said. "If that is how you prefer it. I will set aside my concerns for a more dinner-friendly topic of conversation. But don't think that will be the end of it, because I can assure you that I am not finished, not by a long shot." She drew in a breath, and then turned her head abruptly in Edith's direction. "Edith, I hear you're becoming quite the little philanthropist around the village. Why don't you tell me some more about that?"
Edith looked started at the sudden shift in focus. "Er, I... I mean, yes, Grandmama, I would be happy to."
Mary silently fumed as her family grasped at this rather shaky thread of conversation. She could not believe her grandmother's gall! To come into their household, as a guest, a virtual stranger, and lecture them on their behaviour! How forward, how rude... how positively American.
Matthew was looking at her with concern in his eyes, and she just shook her head and sipped her drink, unable to offer him anything but her anger. She did not want to have to separate with the women after dinner. Inevitably the subject would come up again, and Papa and Matthew would not be around to help her. She was quite tempted to feign a headache and retire to bed early. She didn't even care if Grandmama saw right through it. In fact, that was exactly what she was going to do. It would irritate Mama, and that only strengthened her resolve.
Pairing: Matthew/Mary (Downton Abbey)
Rating: PG-13
Summary: The family are put out by Cora's meddlesome American mother when she makes an unreasonable request.
Note: Set following the season 2 Christmas special.
Grandmama was not as Mary remembered.
The woman she'd met when she was a girl was cheerfully opinionated. Her red hair shone in the lamplight and her brash American accent rose over their parents' more subdued tones. She had startled and captivated both Mary and Edith.
"Such pretty English roses," Grandmama said, when they were presented to her one night after dinner. Mama had instructed their maid to take extra care with their appearance and they were adorned like little dolls in ribbons and lace. Grandmama's shrewd blue eyes observed them before she touched Mary on the cheek. She said, "You'll marry well."
Granny wouldn't have a bar of her, of course, but Mary found her fascinating. It was deeply disappointing when she only stayed for two weeks. Mary barely remembered Mama's frayed temper or her nervous asides with the then housekeeper, Mrs Anders. But she had been only ten, and Edith eight.
In the days leading up to Grandmama's second visit, Mama's disposition changed noticeably. Normally gentle but firm with the servants, she became impatient and snappy at the slightest provocation. It wasn't the red room she wanted set up, but the yellow room in the east corridor. The menu for the next week had to be finalised now, she didn't care what Mrs Patmore had to say about it. Even Carson earned some of her ill-humour, which he bore with quiet grace. Pitying them, Mary wondered what on earth had gotten into her mother.
And then she met Grandmama.
The woman they greeted in the drive that afternoon was neither chatty nor boisterous, but stern and humourless. Her lady's maid hovered anxiously behind her, eyeing the big house as if she couldn't quite comprehend its existence. Mama stepped forward to embrace her mother, and despite the fact that they had not seen each other in almost twenty years, Grandmama patted her on the back and kissed her on the cheek as if this were something of a duty.
"Mama," Papa said, warmth in his voice but a knowing, cautious distance in his stance. "It's lovely to have you here with us."
"You've barely changed, Robert," she said, accepting his gracious kiss with nary a smile.
Her eyes darted over Mary, Edith and Matthew in quick succession. Mary felt herself standing taller, like a child in front of her new governess.
"You grew into quite the beauty, didn't you?" Grandmama said, pausing in front of her.
The compliment was familiar, but Grandmama's tone wasn't genial. "I'm very glad to see you again, Grandmama," Mary said. "It's been too long."
"Hello, Grandmama," Edith added. Grandmama gave her a look before shifting over to Matthew without breaking her stride. "And you must be the young man set to inherit all of this. And Mary's heart, on top of that. You have done well."
Mary could tell that Matthew was a little perplexed by this statement. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Mrs Levinson. I do apologise that my mother isn't here to greet you as well, but she will be along to dinner this evening."
"Won't that be interesting?" she said with an odd smile, before she returned to Mama to be escorted into the house.
Matthew glanced at Mary, and she frowned and shrugged.
Though Mary had not really wanted to go to America, she had looked forward to seeing her other grandmother again, and this was not the reunion she had envisioned. Of course the crossing from American was long and arduous, and she could certainly forgive an elderly woman for being prickly. Granny could also be imposing when you weren't used to her.
She put all thoughts of the meeting aside until that evening, when Anna was helping her ready for dinner and Mama stepped into her room uninvited. She looked stunning, as usual. Her embroidered cream dress was slightly looser around the middle, and the band in her hair glittered in the light. Despite her age, Mama kept up to date with all the latest fashions, and Mary suspected she had enjoyed it even more than the rest of them had when the new trends started cropping up in London again.
Mary herself was dressed in a ruby red dress that drooped at the waist and flared around her black heels. It brought out the tinges of red in her hair and the cream in her complexion, and it also reminded her of the dress she had been wearing during the servants' ball, when Matthew proposed. She thought he might like it.
When Mary met her mother's eyes in the mirror, she frowned at the expression she saw reflected there.
"We haven't done this for a while," she noted, adjusting her gloves as Anna departed the room. "Do I need scolding over something I'm unaware of?"
Mama pursed her lips as she perched on the end of the four poster bed. "Mary, your grandmother has made her feelings plain about something."
Mary wasn't at all sure she liked the tone in her mother's voice. She turned on her stool so they were facing one another. "And what would that be?"
"Your engagement to Matthew."
The unease continued to build in her stomach. "Pardon me?"
"You did wonder why she came over so quickly, didn't you? You haven't actually set a date."
"I assumed she wanted to spend some time with us."
"I'm afraid that's only part of it. Darling, you have to understand that while your grandmother can be severe, at times, she does have your best interests at heart. She thinks that... in light of the scandal hitting the papers so recently, your engagement should be... put on hold, for the time being."
Mary could scarcely believe what she was hearing. And the reluctance with which her mother said the words... it was almost as if she agreed with them.
"You don't think that's true though, do you? She has no idea about English society!"
"It's not very different to New York society, Mary. A scandal is still a scandal. There was a reason we didn't announce your engagement to anyone outside of the family."
"Because we thought it would provoke Richard, not that our caution mattered! He still published. Everyone agreed that we should wait a month or two, but that doesn't mean we need delay any more than that now. It's past time we made it official."
Mama looked down, weighing her words. "You have to admit that the timing of it is a little awkward. How do you think this will reflect on Matthew?"
"Isn't this what you wanted? Me, married off, so my reputation is at least somewhat preserved?"
"I think that waiting a little longer, until our names are out of the papers, might be the best course of action now, given how things have changed."
Mary sprang to her feet. She was quite aware that she sounded shrill. "It's beginning to sound as if you were been thinking about this before Grandmama even arrived! Don't you want us to be happy together, finally?"
"Of course I do! How can you even ask such a thing? But there is your sister to think about as well. Her marriage prospects have been affected by this."
"To be fair that is her own fault."
Mama squinted at her, and Mary remembered she did not know what that meant.
"Our family needs to get itself out of the spotlight, and we can't afford to incite any more unnecessary gossip. Your engagement could be seen as-"
"What?" Mary scoffed. "The greedy heir, swooping in to take up his benefactor's ruined daughter because no one else will have her?"
"Mary!" Mama snapped. "If you think I enjoy taking my mother's side on this, I do not! It just so happens that she has a point. It's not as if what I'm asking you is unreasonable. You just need to be patient."
"This is because she doesn't like Matthew," Mary said, scoffing. "She doesn't like that he's set to inherit your fortune. Did you see the way she spoke to him today? She doesn't think he's worthy of it."
"You had a similar opinion once upon a time, if I recall."
"Well I'm marrying him now! And I can see why she would suggest this, she doesn't know us or what we've been through, but you do."
Mama bowed her head. "Mary..."
"Everyone's going to be wondering where we are!" Mary snapped, whirling with a flick of beads before she stalked from the room.
She didn't look to see if Mama was descending the stairs behind her, but when she neared the drawing room, nearly everyone else was gathered, including Isobel and Granny. They paused when she entered, and Matthew stepped towards her with a slight frown. "Is there something the matter?"
"Everything is the matter," she said in a low, forceful voice only he could hear.
He looked troubled, but Carson announced that dinner was ready before he could ask what she meant.
Mama had done her best to seat Grandmama and Granny out of one another's reach, though that meant Isobel sat somewhere in between them, and Mary suspected she would rouse one or both of them anyway, if Grandmama's earlier attitude was anything to go by. She couldn't say she was terribly concerned; in fact, she almost wanted the bloodsport. Her heart was still pumping red hot, and her body coursed with anger. The thought that they would hamper her happiness this way, without even consulting her... well it was the damned entail all over again, wasn't it? Just how long did they expect her and Matthew to wait? Five, six months? A year? How long would it take for London society to forget they existed, considering Bates's name had also started appearing in the papers as Papa set his lawyers to work on the appeal.
And speaking of Papa, what did he think about all of this? Did he even know? Mary examined him at the end of the table. She knew it was well within her mother's character to make this decision without his input, but suddenly she wanted his take on things, she wanted it very much. It would feel a betrayal if he too agreed with the decision. She suspected he would not, but that he might go along with it, for the sake of equilibrium.
She found herself glancing at Matthew in the corner of her eye. He was perfectly serene as he sipped his wine and said something to Edith across the table. She wanted to spare him the truth almost as much as she wanted his comfort. Why must they wait any longer? Hadn't they been separated for long enough? Why did their relationship have to be anyone's business but their own? Almost without thinking, she reached for his hand under the table. She found it resting against his knee, and she tangled her fingers through his much larger ones, seeking some solace in their warmth. Matthew twitched and glanced at her in surprise before he carefully returned the caress.
"I assume Sybil is still in Ireland then, with her chauffeur?" Grandmama asked, and though her question was directed at Mama it was loud enough to stop the other conversations going on around the table.
"She has promised she'll return for a visit soon," Mama said.
"Closer to the wedding," Mary added, lifting her pointed gaze to Grandmama's.
Grandmama just smiled. "I still can't quite believe she married a servant. Your daughters do have the strangest taste in husbands."
Mary tensed, and Matthew's thumb circled her knuckles.
"Sybil is quite an independent girl," Isobel said. "I think it's admirable that she was so willing to follow her heart."
"Admirable, or foolish?" Grandmama asked. "What girl can comfortably trade in an upper class lifestyle for poverty in an Irish slum? Certainly not the Sybil I know."
"Well since the only Sybil you've ever known was six, I'd say the point is very fairly moot," Granny said.
"And in the end it was her decision, wasn't it?" Mary said, releasing Matthew's hand to cradle her glass. "No one else's."
Grandmama looked at her shrewdly. "Let's dispense with the double talk, shall we Mary? I'm unused to this British passivity. Your mother has obviously told you my suggestion, and you're not happy with it."
Mary pursed her lips. "All right," she said. "No, I'm not."
"Dear me, is the dinner table really the place for this discussion?" Mama started, but her protest fell on deaf ears.
"I hardly think it's your place to come in and decide when Matthew and I can and can not be married," Mary said.
"What?" Matthew asked, and Granny lifted her eyebrows.
"Forgive me, Grandmama, but you know nothing of the situation."
"I know enough," she said curtly. "I spent an evening in London before I came here and I saw all I needed to see in the papers. They were talking about you openly in the hotel restaurant. The Crawley family is so inundated with scandal I'm surprised any of you can stand upright, let alone consider marriage."
"I don't think this is appropriate," Papa said, clearing his throat.
"Perhaps that's your problem, Robert, you're not willing to put everything out in the open. But I am. Through your own foolish judgment - and I understand that you were young, Mary, and that these mistakes happen, loathe as we may be to admit it - you have brought scandal down on this household, and now you have to suffer the consequences. Even if that means postponing your happiness for the good of the family."
"With all due respect, I think Mary has sacrificed a great deal already for this family," Matthew said. Mary could see the irritation colouring his face and she felt a rush of gratitude.
Grandmama glanced at him. "He jumps to your defence quickly, I'll give him that."
"Enough," Papa said sharply. "I won't hear any more of this; certainly not now. Cora is right, this is no topic for the dinner table."
"Very well," Grandmama said. "If that is how you prefer it. I will set aside my concerns for a more dinner-friendly topic of conversation. But don't think that will be the end of it, because I can assure you that I am not finished, not by a long shot." She drew in a breath, and then turned her head abruptly in Edith's direction. "Edith, I hear you're becoming quite the little philanthropist around the village. Why don't you tell me some more about that?"
Edith looked started at the sudden shift in focus. "Er, I... I mean, yes, Grandmama, I would be happy to."
Mary silently fumed as her family grasped at this rather shaky thread of conversation. She could not believe her grandmother's gall! To come into their household, as a guest, a virtual stranger, and lecture them on their behaviour! How forward, how rude... how positively American.
Matthew was looking at her with concern in his eyes, and she just shook her head and sipped her drink, unable to offer him anything but her anger. She did not want to have to separate with the women after dinner. Inevitably the subject would come up again, and Papa and Matthew would not be around to help her. She was quite tempted to feign a headache and retire to bed early. She didn't even care if Grandmama saw right through it. In fact, that was exactly what she was going to do. It would irritate Mama, and that only strengthened her resolve.